Chapter 88: Chapter 88 - World Of Gaia (1/2)

CHAPTER 88

WORLD OF GAIA

Lino sat upright on the bed, his head heaved slightly downward as he read through a thick book in his hands. He's been lying in bed, 'hurt', for about a week now. The battle had long since concluded, with Demons retreating back into the shadows almost immediately after Lino was 'hurt'.

However, even the Demon's invasion was unable to overshadow the mysterious items that were sold on the auction, all of which had the same, winged crest engraved on the surface. It meant that they were crafted by a single person!

No matter how much they inquired, though, Ava kept her promise and didn't utter a word about Lino. This allowed him to rest mostly in peace, with her occasional visits and pestering with better and better medicine each time. Upon his request, she also allowed him to take a peek into the Major's Library, which Lino deemed the best reward since coming here.

After his ascension to the Soul Realm, his ability to memorize and process things increased exceptionally. While it wasn't at the level of instant memorization, he was still able to remember the contents of a single page after looking at it for five-six seconds. This was only possible, though, because of his innate ability to memorize things quickly.

For the past week, he'd learned a heap of new things which quickly broadened his horizons more than ever before. The knowledge tied to cultivation especially intrigued him, and he learned the clear distinction that was similar to blacksmithing.

While Mortal Realm, Core Realm, Soul Realm etc. all had independent names, they were all technically categorized into a single stage at large: Foundation Stage. The stage lasted from Mortal Realm all the way up to Numinous Realm, with its peak being Level 280.

Crossing that threshold would land one into the next stage: Immortal Stage. The latter itself was divided into six sub-realms, namely known as Exalted, Imperial, Eximious, Saintly, Heavenly and G.o.dly.

However, what startled Lino the most when it comes to knowledge about cultivation is a single fact: since the dawn of time, not a single cultivator had ever reached the absolute peak. Not even the Bearers of Writs! This idea shocked Lino.

Most of the people theorized that there even wasn't a peak; they concluded this by looking at the currently most powerful being: Gaia herself. If she wasn't omnipotent, yet was way beyond everyone else, didn't that mean even she could improve further?

Lino finally accepted Ella's words, that road of cultivation was an endless one, and breaking past one barrier only meant chasing after another. He couldn't help but sigh; somehow, deep down, he found it pointless. What was the reason for it all? Chasing a ghost that may not even exist? For a simple reason such as inscribing your name in history books? To prevail over all others? To realize the truth?

Lino simply shook his head. Those people were millions of years old, if not more; their reasoning wouldn't be that simple. There had to be something else, something Lino wasn't privy to at the moment.

Besides the cultivation, he also delved into the general knowledge of the world. The place he was currently at was actually just one of the three major continents, and it was by far the smallest one, at the very western edge of the world.

Further north was a ma.s.sive protrusion of land known as Demonic Battlefield, a grand expanse of land where battles and wars never ceased. Far away toward the east, once one crosses the Valley of Sects, reigned the supreme power of the continent: Divine Dynasty.

Even further east, beyond it, was a Sea of Sorrows, known so because of the number of people who perished in its storms. If one is lucky to cross it, though, they'd arrive at the Central Continent, second largest one, besides the Holy Continent where the Holy Lands resided.

There wasn't much detailed information, but Lino still learned quite a bit about the world's geography. Besides these three continents, there were still two large ma.s.ses of land, standing on opposite ends of north and south; they were known as Northern Expanse and Southern Expanse, and were mainly dominated by Ancient Races and Clans who had gone into seclusion. There was pretty much no information about them, though they did tickle Lino's fancy for a moment.

Lino also further improved his knowledge when it comes to auxiliary fields, such as blacksmithing. There were literally hundreds of such professions, and Lino nearly got a headache trying to remember them all: alchemists, rune masters, array masters, formation masters, energy conductors, talisman inscribers... nearly every field was as deep as blacksmithing itself, though some were more important than others.

For instance, in most parts of the world, blacksmiths were revered as one of the top professions; however, once one reached the true upper strata of the world, rune masters would be the most valued ones as they, in conjunction with formation masters, can craft long-range teleportation stands, in addition to isolating smaller pieces of void into isolated worlds.